Random Post: Troski Tale

Today I was heading home from work, in a troski, when something unexpected happened. For those of you wondering, troski, or trotro, is Ghana's (questionable) version of a public transport system, and the stem of many good stories. I remember one time when I took a trotro somewhere, and the mate (conductor) miscalculated the change he gave to a lady passenger. This made her so mad she told the driver to stop the bus, so she could fight the mate. Funny thing is, if I had to bet, I'd have bet on the woman winning that fight - she looked mean as hell.

Anyway, back to today's story: The bus was half-empty, and at the next stop a woman was standing with two kids just from school. The mate said the troski's destination and the woman cried out, delighted. She informed us that it'd been a while since she got a bus straight home, which is a delight. So we were moving along slowly, as it was right before rush hour, when, not five minutes later, the woman cried out again; Her daughter had forgotten her schoolbag at the bus stop. 

Now, what usually follows is the mother gets mad and scolds the child before deciding what to do, with other passenger chiming in and trying to calm her down. But this woman immediately told the mate to stop the bus, gave him the bus fare and told him to take the children to the last stop if she couldn't make it back. This was surprising for two reasons: First, the woman never shouted. She wasn't even angry when she was leaving. In fact, only the mate reprimanded the child. The second surprising thing was that she thought she could come back... Unfortunately, the traffic loosened up and we were on our way. Too bad for the woman, considering her initial delight at finding a car straight home.

Anyway something else happened. Not as interesting as the lady's story but, this one was also surprising. We arrived at a junction, and as per usual, a policeman had stepped in to help with the flow. He had granted access to the opposing lane, and when their time was up - he used a stopwatch - the policeman duly brought the lane to a halt. The thing is, the car he stopped was a Toyota land cruiser, with tinted windows, and a green license plate, which meant... Government vehicle. I don't have to tell you how unusual this is. Everyone was surprised, including the driver of the government vehicle, as indicated by what happened next: The policeman had turned to indicate that our lane could move now, but the government vehicle proceeded to join the traffic regardless. This was actually normal, until the policeman saw what was happening and told the car to pull aside. Yeah I know, hurray for the ordinary man! Once again, we were moving so unfortunately I don't know how it ended.

Perhaps the policeman was fired. Or perhaps the woman went home and gave her child a spanking; Who knows? But I believe this deserves a happy ending, don't you? Well, good news! I was holding back. The woman bloody made it back to the bus! Yes. She ran about the length of two football fields and caught up with our troski. Can you believe that? In fact, she actually sprinted past the bus, and the mate had to call her back. Best part? The woman boarded with a huge grin on her face, and we had a laugh. And she was still far from angry.   

That right there is a happy ending if I should say so myself. Now I just hope that police officer keeps his job, and I see him tomorrow controlling traffic, so I can get home faster.